[Danseph]

 
These are the very sad and broken state of my EarSonic SM3. I bought them in August of 2010. I used them mostly inside. I always took great care of them, cleaning them gently and often, taking them on and off carefully, keeping them in their case. They never felt and I truly enjoyed them. 
 
In August of 2012. the right earpiece broke. The plastic casing just felt apart and everything with it. I sent them for repair. EarSonics offered to upgrade to SM3 v2 for EUR137, which I did. This was on top of the $322 for the original pair I paid in 2010 and EUR113 for the custom ear molds. In June of 2013, the right earpiece stopped working out of the blue. I sent it for repair and Earsonic fixed it at no charge, but I still had to pay for shipping sending them the broken earphones, which cost me CAD$70 to ship registered to France.
 
In March of 2014, the left earpiece felt apart and a few weeks later, the right one did. A little more than three years in, one upgrade, two shipments to customer service and about $650 spent, I AM DONE... I am not planning to spend more money on these to fix the same problems.
 
The reason they broke is just poor design. As you take the earphones on and off, the plastic two-pin connector that the cable plugs into presses against the plastic casing, which over time creates cracks and ultimately breaks
 
I loved the in-ear factor and the custom molds made this the best earphone I ever possessed. I am moving to a very different setup. My needs have changed. I'm getting the Fidelio X1 soon. I have received the Astro Mixamp Pro 2013 and right now I'm focusing on gaming. I'm hoping to use the X1 for casual music (classical, jazz, rock) as well. I have no idea how they'll compare to the SM3. If you have any thought on this, please let me know.
 
Finally, one last word of warning. I understand this is my experience and it is not representative of EarSonics' entire line of products or even the SM3s as a whole. I'm not telling you not to buy EarSonics. I'm merely just sharing my experience for the sake of reference.

 

[davidcotton]

On the contary the first sm3 was reknowned for issues like this. If the drivers still work and you want to you could always send them in to somewhere like fishers and have them remoulded into customs which should solve the reliability issues.

 

[Danseph]

Thanks for your post. I hadn't thought of it, but after reflexion, I think I'll just give up. 
 
1. Although the drivers work, I have doubts about their reliability. After all, one of the reasons I had to send them back was a faulty driver (at least I think it was) and I have no idea how long the drivers in the custom mold solution would last.
 
2. I just think I've spent way more than what they are worth. I'm at about $650. I don't know how much the remolding solution would cost, but I'm guessing it's going to be more than $100 and I can't shake the feeling that I could have gotten a better pair if I had spent $750 upfront. If I just consider the EarSonics product line,  $750 is the price of an EM2-iFI on the company's website.

 

[davidcotton]

Thanks for your post. I hadn't thought of it, but after reflexion, I think I'll just give up. 


 


1. Although the drivers work, I have doubts about their reliability. After all, one of the reasons I had to send them back was a faulty driver (at least I think it was) and I have no idea how long the drivers in the custom mold solution would last.


 


2. I just think I've spent way more than what they are worth. I'm at about $650. I don't know how much the remolding solution would cost, but I'm guessing it's going to be more than $100 and I can't shake the feeling that I could have gotten a better pair if I had spent $750 upfront. If I just consider the EarSonics product line,  $750 is the price of an EM2-iFI on the company's website.

 


Last I looked it was around $90 plus cables plus earmolds, but yes there's no avoiding it $750 would have got you a very nice pair of c/iem.

 

[Ivabign]

 

  Thanks for your post. I hadn't thought of it, but after reflexion, I think I'll just give up. 
   
  1. Although the drivers work, I have doubts about their reliability. After all, one of the reasons I had to send them back was a faulty driver (at least I think it was) and I have no idea how long the drivers in the custom mold solution would last.
   
  2. I just think I've spent way more than what they are worth. I'm at about $650. I don't know how much the remolding solution would cost, but I'm guessing it's going to be more than $100 and I can't shake the feeling that I could have gotten a better pair if I had spent $750 upfront. If I just consider the EarSonics product line,  $750 is the price of an EM2-iFI on the company's website.

 


Last I looked it was around $90 plus cables plus earmolds, but yes there's no avoiding it $750 would have got you a very nice pair of c/iem.

He will save on cables - the Earsonics cable is a Westone/JH, etc... will work fine.  Actually a re-shell would breathe new life into them for $95 - and the BA's themselves are pretty hardy little devices - it was the shells that fell apart...